A socialist candidate is poised to defeat Buffalo’s four-term Democratic mayor after scoring a major upset in the city’s mayoral primary on Tuesday.
India Walton, 39, led incumbent Mayor Byron Brown 52% to 45% as of Wednesday morning, putting her on track to make history as the city’s first female mayor, the first black female mayor, and the first socialist mayor to hold office in a major U.S. city since the 1960s.
“We set out about a year ago to do exactly what we did,” Walton told CNN on Wednesday. “We knew that this race was going to require help from outside of our local geographic area. We knew that we needed to garner national attention to challenge a 16-year heavily entrenched incumbent, and the people spoke.”
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Walton is a community activist and a nurse who has worked in hospitals and Buffalo Public Schools, according to her campaign website.
The 39-year-old is one of six children, growing up on the east side of Buffalo. She became a full-time working mother at the age of 14 and earned her GED while she was pregnant with twins, an experience she cites as a motivation for her healthcare career.
Walton’s priorities for office include police reform by eventually transferring armed officers out of assisting with mental health calls and declaring Buffalo a sanctuary city for illegal immigrants. She is also seeking to establish a public bank and to increase access to healthy and affordable food for Buffalo residents.
Walton has been endorsed by several social justice and socialist organizations, including the Democratic Socialists of America.
On Tuesday night, the Buffalo chapter of the DSA signaled an early congratulations to Walton, tweeting, “Socialism won tonight.”
Brown, the 62-year-old four-term mayoral incumbent, is a reported ally of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, according to a report by the Washington Post. The Democrat faced backlash from left-wing activists over his handling of racial justice protests, which included an incident in which a 75-year-old man was shoved to the ground by police and sustained a head injury.
Brown, who is black, has been critical of the city’s police union but has not gone as far as supporting the idea of defunding the police. He has, however, advocated for police reforms and establishing better relationships between law enforcement and the black community.
The last U.S. socialist mayor of a major U.S. city was Frank Zeidler of Milwaukee, who served as the city’s chief executive from 1948 to 1960.
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Walton’s chances of victory in November’s general election are considered high, given that Buffalo has not elected a Republican mayor since 1965.
